


Xizi She Knows

by meleep



Category: Batman (Comics), Iron Man (Comic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 13:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3571820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meleep/pseuds/meleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassandra Cain & Tony Stark. After stumbling into business in Hong Kong - Tony Stark meets one of the worst kind of Bats to find in a dark alley. Not finished & not planning on finishing in the (near) future. This was my first attempt at a fanfic that I let public and boy was it fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony pored over the semi-lucid panels that hovered in front of him, taking note of the Hong Kong nightline that stood outside his hotel window. From his suite, he could see the city’s splendor in whole, but its details were dimmed despite the hanging lanterns on the street below and lighted windows from adjacent skyscrapers. Those details were exactly what he was looking for amidst the confusion. Tony had come to Hong Kong with the idea to develop a Stark Enterprises on all seven continents, but as he had found out, another competing business man, with unclear intentions kept preventing him from even laying groundwork for a business building. The ambassadors he has sent over within the past three months disappeared before they could begin negotiations and it wasn’t until Tony could turn his sight to China that he finally took a plane to Hong Kong and decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

           “JARVIS, places to eat around here? Room service tastes the same regardless of where you stay.” Stark said, swishing the transparent panels together and re-focusing his attention out the window.

           “There’s a well-received local joint a few blocks away from --” the AI began.

           “Book me a table and have a cab ready in 10.” commanded Tony.

           “Very well sir.”

It was never past Tony to find the local treasures at in any place he travelled to. It provided him with a sense of familiarity despite his long travels. Taking one last look at the panel, he committed to memory the image of a character in a deep red hood, his face obscured.  Before the last ambassador, a lanky man with a gift for language, was attacked, he relayed this image back to the States through his phone. After contacting SHIELD, Tony learned that these figures were an organization known as Hand. Tony could only speculate that they were trained assassins, ninjas as it were, and that he was confident he could take them down while in Hong Kong. He looked at his reflection in the large window before adjusting his tie and winking at the window.

As he walked to the elevator, he looked at his watch and noted the time, it was now getting late and he wasn’t certain if the restaurant was still open. Tony pressed the button for the first floor and waited as the elevator took him 40 floors down. There was only one thing Stark had wanted this late at night and the local specialty could wait until tomorrow - the bar was calling his name. As the doors opened up to the first floor, Tony shrugged and approached the bar area. The bartender, a now disgruntled Chinese man asked him in rather elegant English what kind of drink he’d take. Without hesitating to think, he picked up a bottle of scotch and placed a large bill on the bar that made the Chinese man change his attitude about having a customer so late at night. He retreated to the side as Tony reclined against the bar. Taking a large swig, he looked around the bar area. Dead. It was late after all, and Tony had yet to fully adjust to the time zone change. The International Date Line was not prejudiced towards whom it affected, but it felt good to finally get away from the chaos at home even if it was for business. Hong Kong, of all places! Feeling confident, Tony snuck out a side door of the building, avoiding the cab that he’d called earlier. He reminded himself that he’d need to compensate the poor man, but was more interested in seeing how the majority of Chinese citizens lived. He wandered down the street, admiring the reds and yellows of the paper lanterns that decorated the streets of Hong Kong - in sharp contrast to the artificial lights that brought the cityscape to a full crescendo. All around him, people yelled and laughed drunkenly. Tony felt a kinship with these people, they knew how to have a good time.

As he approached a quiet building crammed between a tattoo parlor and a street food vendor, Tony caught the sound of punches being thrown. Eager to jump into action, he began running towards the source of the sounds. He came across an alley where a young woman in all black was viciously punching two teenaged boys.

“Heroin. Where?” the woman said, in English. Her words were short and sharp, just like the kick she then proceeded to deliver. The two boys cowered and shook their heads. It was apparent they were nothing more than teenaged thugs looking for a cheap thrill. The woman however did not see that. She just kept delivering punches. The loose bandages around her forearms got caught in the wind and Tony could now see that she was also wearing a long, black cape. This flagged his attention and he immediately felt obligated to help the kids out.

“Hey lady, back off, they’re just looking for a good time.” Tony said as he activated the Iron Man suit from his wristwatch.

He walked forward, with arm outstretched in front of him to prepare charging a relatively tame laser to knock the woman off of the boys to give them time to escape. However, to his surprise, the woman whipped around and kicked him in the head, jumping back and spread her arms out to protect the boys. Tony lowered his arm and rubbed his head. Her kick had done minimal damage to his helmet, but her sheer speed threw Tony off and her protective stance confused him even further.  He tried the shot again in desperation, and this time, it hit her right in the chest, revealing the outline of a yellow bat silhouette before the young woman collapsed to the ground, her face concealed by her black hair. The two boys ran out of the alley in fear.

Tony took a knee and raised his faceplate to get a better look at the woman. He recognized the symbol on her uniform and his heart sank, realizing what he had just done. Stark had heard of these people before in a gloomy city on the East coast, but had no idea they could have made it all the way to Hong Kong, He brushed the bangs out of the young woman’s face and Tony’s fears were confirmed. It was a young Asian woman. He’d just knocked out a Batgirl.

Tony put his arms under the woman and picked her up with ease. She was lithe, but had enough muscle on her to hold her own in battle. Assuming the fight was fair, that was. As he stood up, he kept a close eye on her, wary that she was playing dead and was looking for an easy way to punch him straight in his face. She was knocked out though, and would be for a while. Tony took a few looks around him in the alley and ran the same way back to his hotel. People looked on him in confusion, some in surprise and chased after him. He did not stop, but took to lift off against the ground to get out of public view as quickly as possible. Sure, a man flying around in a red, mechanical suit would draw attention, but with his faceplate down, at least he could get out of the scene and be forgotten quickly. The people that waved at him from the ground yelled and Tony did his best to drown out their concerns by thinking of the woman in his arms. That didn’t help either, it was bad enough he was strutting around Hong Kong with an unconscious young woman, but it was a young woman wearing a Bat symbol on her chest and if Tony knew anything about bats, they were not an animal you’d like to run into in a dark alley.

As he entered the front doors of the hotel, he shooed off the busboys and staff. He growled at them to stay back despite their best efforts to help him. The woman was only unconscious after all, Tony could fix it. Tony could fix anything. A drunken businessman about to get on the elevator was shoved out of the way as Tony took the elevator to himself. All around him, Tony could feel the scalding tones of the people around him. He had just taken down a local hero, heroine…someone these people looked up to.

“JARVIS, how long do you think it’ll take for our bat-girl here to recover?” Tony said, his words rushed.

“Your reservation was cancelled over an hour ago, the owners were looking forward to--”

“JARVIS.” Tony wasn’t in the mood for niceties at the moment.

He made another mental note to tell JARVIS to send them flowers or some apology gift basket. That was the second person he’d have to apologize to. No, third. Tony looked down at the woman and sighed.. Tony had overcompensated the attack, assuming she was a well-armed as he was. He shook his head and exited the elevator. Tony powered down his suit and released the woman from his grasp slightly to dig in his suit pocket for his card key. He slid it and pushed the door open with his back, dragging the woman by her arms into his room. With effort, he placed her onto the bed, still made, and relaxed into an adjacent chair.

“JARVIS, run a look up on information about these bats in Hong Kong and send those people and apology e-mail or something.” Tony said before slinking down in the chair, folding his hands together and passing out.

“Well-noted.” JARVIS chimed.

 


	2. Chapter 2

~~

Tony awoke late in the day. The room was quiet for a second as Tony looked upon the woman resting on his bed. He rubbed his eyes and sighed. This problem would not go away with a good night’s sleep. He stood up slowly, eyes fixated on the woman just in case she was playing a trick, and sat at his desk, remembering he’d ordered his AI to do some research.

“Your suspicions have been confirmed, sir. She’s an official member of them, sent here to work with one of his global companies. Her name is Cassandra Cain, daughter of the assassins, David Cain and a ‘Lady Shiva’.  Current moniker is ‘Blackbat’. Apparently her speech capacities are limited, so no business jargon. She reads body language, but that’s about all that’s publicly known about her. ” JARVIS explained.

Tony looked back at the woman. Was it possible for a human being to not know how to communicate verbally? Being raised by two assassins couldn’t have been easy, but did they really forget to teach a fundamental skill such as talking? Tony felt a pang of distress surge through him. This Cassandra was a master assassin. He brought home an assassin. She could kill him at any moment. He liked that though. How boring would a trip to Hong Kong be without a little culture? He smiled and bent down over the mini-fridge to pull out a small glass container filled with vodka. He poured himself some into a smaller cup and pulled a chair up to the foot of the bed. Tony was going to watch her until she woke up, he wasn’t about to be attacked without warning.

It wasn’t until the sun began setting again that the woman began to stir. Tony by then was on his 5th glass of straight vodka and felt well-prepared to confront her. Cassandra turned onto her back and opened her eyes. Startled, she sat up in bed and pushed herself against the back board of the bed.

“Morning, gorgeous.” Tony said, with a smirk as he got up and stood to the side of the bed. Cass didn’t take her eyes off of him as he moved.

“No need to put up your guns, your ‘batarang’, whatever you use. It’s my fault you’re here in the first place.” Tony gestured back to the mini-fridge, “Thirsty?”

“Who are you?”  Cassandra began. Her shoulders lowered visibly and her expression became softer, her face muscles relaxing..

“My name is Tony Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man. I mistook you for a common thug dressed as a comic book hero and knocked you out last night.”

Cassandra jumped off the bed and stood across from Tony, her attention still focused on him. Tony could tell that she was still far from trusting him and that she was thinking of a quick way to kick him in the face before escaping out the door. He slowly slunk to the foot of the bed and began the process of talking her down.

“Cassandra, you’re an assassin. What are you doing working for him? You were raised to murder, now you’ve sided with a man who does the opposite.” Tony pointed to the yellow bat outline on her uniform. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Why should I talk?” Cassandra responded shortly.

“Because you can be damn sure I’ll put my suit back on and knock you out again until you do. Again – Cassandra – what are you doing here? Why aren’t you killing?” Tony was growing impatient with the young woman.

“I ran away. Birthright means nothing. I am no monster.” Cassandra struggled to explain.

“How can I be certain you’re not lying, missy? How can I be certain I can trust you?” Tony said, crossing his arms.

“He does.” Cassandra said, looking directly into Tony’s eyes.

Now feeling the effects of the alcohol surging through him, Tony stood in silence for a minute, letting her words sink in. For a woman of so few words, he was astounded at how well she picked them out of her limited word pool. He grinned and picked up his previously unfinished glass and raised it at her.

“Cheers to redemption, then.” Tony took a large gulp and tossed the glass out of the way before sitting back down in his chair. He watched Cassandra adjust her utility belt and the bandages around her wrists. He leaned back and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and tossed it at her. She caught it and looked at the label that wrapped around the bottle. Tony wondered what words and letters must have looked like to her. They must have looked like some kind of elaborate drawing, a piece of art to her eyes. She untwisted the cap and took a large gulp.

“When’s your redemption, Tony?”

He closed his eyes and opened them, feeling the sting of her words yet again. Ugh. Cassandra must have understood what kind of business he was previously associated with, or else she couldn’t have known he was just as guilty as her. He prepared the same speech he had given to anyone who called him a mass murderer.

“Stark Industries is no longer responsible for the production of--”

“Your redemption. Not your company’s.”Cassandra said, staring at the empty bottle on the floor.

Tony stood up abruptly and the arc reactor in his chest emitted a brighter light through his dress shirt. His temper was rising, he couldn’t counter the girl’s attitude and snarky one liners.  Tony stomped up to her and grabbed the collar of her cowl with a balled fist. The Iron Man suit reacted to Tony’s sudden surge of rage and enveloped his body in a matter of seconds.

“It may never damn well come. But I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure I make up for what what’s happened.” Tony growled . Cassandra lifted her feet off of the floor and pushed off against Tony to land on the bed in an offensive stance.  This knocked Tony back a foot and he stumbled drunkenly.  She raised her arms in front of her face, anticipating another blast from the suit’s palm, but it never came. Tony raised his arm and blasted a lamp to his side instead of aiming at Cassandra.

“Billionaire.” Tony shrugged. It would do him more harm than good to start blasting at her now. And the lamp was dispensable.

Cassandra sighed and sat down on the bed. Tony would no longer threaten her as he powered down his suit. He sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his forehead. Cassandra crawled to his side and ran her fingers through his hair. Tony jumped defensively, but found no threat in her touch. Goosebumps crawled all over Tony’s skin and he closed his eyes, realizing the two had come to an agreement, although shaky.  An agreement that neither of them had pasts to brag about, but they were both trying to make up for it. This was her way of showing that the agreement had been received on her end. It was in her language, body language.

“Cassandra, what all do you know about and organization named Hand? Red cloaked weirdos running around killing off guys?” Tony asked. His mind was still racing, wanting desperately to bring back the comfort Cassandra’s hands had brought to his being.  It had been too long since he had found common ground with another human being, much less one that showed any signs of physical affection towards him.

“I know that you can’t take them. Not now.” Cassandra leapt off of the bed and retrieved a domino mask from her utility belt. She strapped it on her face and ran her hands through her hair.

“Find me at the Tin Hau Temple in Lei Yue Mun. Kowloon.” Cassandra said as Tony collapsed onto the hotel room bed. She leapt out of the doorway silently, leaving Tony to believe she was simply an afterthought of the alcohol settling in. Tony stared up at the ceiling, wishing more than anything she would come back in and soothe him until he fell asleep.

“Didja get all that JARVIS?”


End file.
